Summary of research

Media representations of active women: What are girls seeing and does it affect their self- concept? Daniels, Elizabeth A. . University of California, Santa Cruz, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2006.

3219618.

ProQuest document link

ABSTRACT Whereas some media portray unrealistic images of women's bodies and promote unattainable standards for

women's physical appearance, other media portray women as active and athletic. The present studies investigated

the prevalence of images of physically active women in magazines popular among adolescent girls (Study 1) and

examined the impact of images of women on girls' self-concept (Study 2). In Study 1, 7 magazines popular among

adolescent girls were analyzed for images of physically active women. Results revealed that only 7% of

photographs of women depicted physically active women, primarily engaged in fitness exercises rather than

sports. The sparse images of women athletes were coded for stereotypicality, athlete role, and ethnicity. Results

showed that women athletes were not more likely to be portrayed in feminine-stereotyped sports as compared to

masculine-stereotyped or neutral sports. They were generally depicted performing a sport as opposed to being

sexualized. Images depicted both White women and women of Color. Findings indicated that women athletes are

largely invisible in mainstream magazines teen girls read. A second experimental study investigated the impact of

media representations of women athletes on adolescent girls' self-concept. Girls (N = 350; M age = 14.97) viewed 5 photographs in one of four conditions---sexualized athletes; performance-focused athletes; sexualized non-

athletes; non-sexualized, non-athletes---and completed a survey on self-concept and media diet. Analyses showed

that girls who saw photos of performance-focused women athletes reported less body shame compared to girls

who saw photos of sexualized non-athlete women. Higher levels of magazine reading were associated with greater

body surveillance and body shame. Implications are discussed with regard to the possibility that performance-

focused images of women athletes may ameliorate body objectification in adolescent girls. In addition, girls who

read a high volume of popular magazines may be at risk for increased body objectification. DETAILS

Subject: Developmental psychology; Womens studies; Mass media

Classification: 0620: Developmental psychology; 0453: Womens studies; 0708: Mass media

Identifier / keyword: Communication and the arts Social sciences Psychology Active women Body

objectification Girls Media Self-concept Sports

Number of pages: 96

Publication year: 2006

Degree date: 2006

LINKS Check for full text availability, Request this item from another library

Database copyright  2018 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. Terms and Conditions Contact ProQuest

School code: 0036

Source: DAI-B 67/05, Dissertation Abstracts International

Place of publication: Ann Arbor

Country of publication: United States

ISBN: 9780542705335

Advisor: Leaper, Campbell

University/institution: University of California, Santa Cruz

University location: United States -- California

Degree: Ph.D.

Source type: Dissertations &Theses

Language: English

Document type: Dissertation/Thesis

Dissertation/thesis number: 3219618

ProQuest document ID: 305349668

Document URL: https://login.proxy181.nclive.org/login?url=  

?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/305349668?accountid=13153

Copyright: Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the

individual underlying works.

Database: ProQuest Dissertations &Theses Global